A'lrll 1(1, i:n 



Saving Waste hy Using It 



"1 



Two iroodusing iniiunrim j 

 material by ck^anios up trart* 

 af. 

 tak 



wit II raw 

 '.'itoil, and 



• nlllill 

 : lot;*, 



•11' 

 fo: 



cl) (tuff Uial M nul •uilablo tut lumber, but is good 



Thi' two inUuntrica rcfcrnvl to rloan up what tlio lutwinills louvo on 

 the luii.I. rii,,. ,,f ibc imluRtrio-i (jet* out clinir stock, tlii< other pro- 

 duces > -igc. They nre large iiidimtrieg and they require 

 much n: ■' m o|>emtion. It is not cininiod thiit tlioy 

 draw tJ.' ly from llio loavings on louui'doff trnctsj 

 but nuii-li i» 11, tiint gouroo, and to that extent thoy wivo 

 the waste of : .ind put it to use. 



The chair-btuvk null, n» the ti-rm is here used, is in n special class 

 to itself. It is not n chair factory, where complete chairs nre produced 

 ready for the market. Ifs busint>!i8 is to cut the rough dimension 

 ■tock which supplies the chair factory. The stuff, after it reaches the 

 factory, is paised through planers, lathes, sanders, and other machines, 

 and is then assembled in complete chnirs ready for market The fac- 

 tory is generally located in a city, and is a large establishment; but 

 the typical chair mill tliat cuts the rough stock — the squares for 

 rounds, spindles, posts, etc. ; and the other sizes for backs, bottoms, 

 arms, rockers — is a small affair, and is usually in the portable class. 

 I; is moved from site to site to reach new sui>plics. When it has mailc 

 a clean-up of one tract, it goes on to the next, shipping its output 

 to the central factory where the finishing and assembling nre done. 



Using Odds and Ends 



Such a chair mill can use very small stuff. Some lengths are not 

 more than one foot. From that they run up to two or three feet. 

 The cutter of sawlogs leaves in the woods crooks and elbows unfit tor 

 lumber: also defective butts, au'l tops of trees which yet contain con- 

 siderable good wood. The chair mill can work all of this. It is cut 

 in sui-li small sizes that it is necessary to throw away only what is 

 actually defective. Very few pieces of sawed stuff remain when the 

 chair mill has taken all it can use. 



Trees which the sawlog cutter passed by because of their small size 

 arc about as good as any for the chair mill. From the standpoint of 

 forestry, it may be a question whether the small trees should be taken, 

 or left to grow; but, in view of the fact that what the sawmill leaves 

 on a tract is pretty sure to be consumed by forest fire the next season. 

 it is evident that what the chair mill takes in the meantime is that 

 much saveil. 



The cutter of chair stock takes pretty much every kind of wood that 

 comes to his hand, but hardwoods are preferred in most cases. In 

 fact, the chair mill operates almost exclusivel.v in hardwoods, though 

 a certain quantity of softwood stock goes to factories. In most in- 

 stances, the stronger the wood, the more serviceable it is to the chair 

 maker; but attractive color and grain are also appreciated. More 

 than 99 per cent of all the chairs made in the United States are of 

 hardwood. The trees classed as hardwoods are those with broad leaves, 

 like oak, gum, birch, ash, poplar, basswood, etc., as distinguished from 

 softwoods which are the needlelcaf trees like pine, •;■■■■"••■ I'omlock, 

 fir, cedar, etc, 



AMOtTXT OP CHAin Wood Used 

 It is not possible to say just how much wood is made into chairs 

 in the United States in the course of a year; because a good many 

 high-class chairs are the product of regular furniture factories and in 

 statistics are listed as furniture. Chair factories which make little 

 besides chairs, make reports of the woods used, and these reports, 

 compiled in all parts of the country, form the basis for the figures 

 in the table which follows. In general, they represent the output of 

 the small, portable chair-stock mills described in former paragraphs. 



The figures here given should be accepted as approximations rather 

 than as exact statistics. They represent all available data on the sub- 

 ject, collected in practically every state in the Union, ami are not 

 much out of the wav. If there are errors, tliev consist in every 



insIiiiM-,- 111 ^iv MiiiiUiT thiiii tlicy oinjlil to bo. Tliul in 



U-cnuhv rompli ! - arc not available in dome Ktiitoa. The 



following liibh- m «.j(ii>enii!i\c, hut is Ixdieved to !«• nearly correct 

 for PNcry Hood listed in the chair making industry. Foreign woods are 

 pur|K>Hely omitted iKwnuiw they are not the proiluct of American chair 

 mill-, .-111.1 111- iiiiisi.li- the purpose of the prexent iirtlclc. 



rllAIlI JITOTK 



Wood r, . I „»,.i nnnually 



0«i .... I.J wni 



Mnpio t.'.-.'in.ood 



Itlrcll Jli.lH.IHHI 



ItCI'Cll .'T.IHIIIHIO 



Elm .'.'. !.•..•..( 



Hc<l Bum 7.-.'4.".,ooo 



Chestnut 't,'J44,O0O 



Ash :;..'.2.'1.000 



llasswood 1 ,.-,■ u.oou 



Hickory I.IT.'i.imki 



Yellow poplar l.l iii.immi 



Sj'cnmore U'.'U.iMHi 



White pine . . .-. T:t.',n(M) 



ricd alder O'.'.'i.OOO 



HInck walnut TM.ixxt 



Hemlock l^d.'i.iMio 



Tuiwlo IH.'.OOO 



Cottonwood . . . : 1 •.".'.OOO 



Douglas flr •i.'i.MOO 



Cherry .'i.'.,(Xhi 



Ccdnr :<:t,<>oii 



Western vi'.low pine L'.'i.ooo 



Iltiltornnt .* IN.oOO 



Yellow pine lo.iXKi 



Spruce 10,000 



Total •2(U,:;i>\.(>nn 



It is seen in the foregoing figures that oak is by all odds the leail- 

 ing chair wood of the United States. It furnishes nearly as much 

 material as all others combined. That is true for two reasons. First, 

 it is handsome and reliable, and second, oak is more abundant than 

 any other hardwood. Probably there is as much oak in the forests 

 as of all other hardwoods put together, and chair mills take jiretty 

 much everything that comes to their hand. 



Slack Cooperage 



Nearly everything that has been said concerning the milling of 

 chair stock applies to slack cooperage. One rather important dif- 

 ference ought to be noted: the softwoods are more in use for cooper- 

 age than for chair making. Less than one per cent of the material 

 going to chair mills is softwood, but 23 per cent of the slack cooper's 

 slock is softwood. 



The two industries arc alike in that they can make use of nuich 

 stuff passed over by regular sawmills. The cooper works up nearly 

 all sorts of material. He uses good timber if he has it, but he can 

 also sort out what is usable in any kind of timber or leftovers, 

 where logging operators have been at work. 



There are two general classes of cooperage, known as slack anil 

 tight. The latter is made for the purpose of containing liquids. All 

 other kinds arc classed as slack cooperage. It is a large class and 

 includes barrels, kegs, and drums for fruit, vegetables, flour, cement, 

 salt, sugar, nails, horseshoes, coffee, cereals, rosin, and in fact so 

 many commodities that a list of all of them would make a long docu- 

 ment. It is the slack, and not the tight cooperage that utilizes so 

 much material that otherwise would be waste. Tight coopers dcmaml 

 very high grades of wood, and in securing what they want they are 

 compelled to reject much which the slack cooper can use. 



The slack cooper's output consists of three parts, the stave, the 

 head, and the hoop. The manufacturer can use trees, saplings, and 

 small poles, down to an inch in diameter. The hoop is sometimes 

 made from large logs, sometimes from saplings not more than ten 

 feet high. The heading and the stave are of similar material; at 

 lea.-^t there is only one wood in the United States — cypress — which is 

 made into staves, ami not also into heading; but the woods suitable 



